Suchergebnisse

Objective: To ascertain and meet current and anticipated needs for residential care and other services by older Indigenous people in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and region. Methods: With advice from a reference group, qualitative and quantitative data were gathered from 98 older (45 years and over) Indigenous people in the ACT and region during 1999/2000. Indigenous and non-indigenous researchers worked closely throughout all phases of the research. We helped participants with immediate problems identified during the interviews and worked directly with the Government funding body to implement the findings. Results: No one expressed a current need for residential services. In terms of future needs, 50% of respondents favoured an arrangement where an existing mainstream provider of aged care accommodated a cluster of Indigenous people in the same facility as non-Indigenous people. Thirty-two per cent preferred an Indigenous-run organisation. Our study also revealed a broad range of health problems and needs. Assessment using the Resident Classification Scale showed that 70% required a low level of care and 4% needed a high level of care. Conclusion: The research identified the needs and provided a health profile of older Indigenous people in the ACT and region. This then provided policymakers with evidence on which they acted to provide appropriate aged care services. Implications: Collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers can access high-quality information, and partnership between researchers and policymakers can improve Indigenous services.

Background: It is assumed that people who inject drugs (PWID) care little about their health. This emerges from social and moral perceptions of PWID and is framed by research that focuses on their morbidity and mortality. Drawing on the narratives of Australian women who inject drugs, we examined the salience of health for our participants and the contexts that structure their descriptions of health and wellbeing. Methods: We conducted qualitative interviews with 83 women who inject drugs and live with hepatitis C virus (HCV) to explore their experiences of health and health care seeking. Findings: Although the interviews focused on HCV, women discussed their health within broader contexts of drug dependence, unstable housing, unemployment, financial strain, other health issues and relationships. Concern about HCV was less pronounced than concerns about other health problems and socio-economic circumstances. Broadening the focus of health beyond drug use alone, women's narratives strongly suggest that PWID can and do care about their health. Conclusions: Whilst research and policy often focus on health problems and barriers to health amongst PWID, the women in our sample maintained positive health beliefs and behaviours. Much like other members of society, their health priorities are contextualised by cultural, economic and political factors. This suggests that health interventions aimed at women who inject drugs could build upon the salience of a range of health priorities as well as integrating these with structural interventions designed to improve housing and economic status.

Objective: To ascertain and meet current and anticipated needs for residential care and other services by older Indigenous people in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and region. Methods: With advice from a reference group, qualitative and quantitative data were gathered from 98 older (45 years and over) Indigenous people in the ACT and region during 1999/2000. Indigenous and non-indigenous researchers worked closely throughout all phases of the research. We helped participants with immediate problems identified during the interviews and worked directly with the Government funding body to implement the findings. Results: No one expressed a current need for residential services. In terms of future needs, 50% of respondents favoured an arrangement where an existing mainstream provider of aged care accommodated a cluster of Indigenous people in the same facility as non-Indigenous people. Thirty-two per cent preferred an Indigenous-run organisation. Our study also revealed a broad range of health problems and needs. Assessment using the Resident Classification Scale showed that 70% required a low level of care and 4% needed a high level of care. Conclusion: The research identified the needs and provided a health profile of older Indigenous people in the ACT and region. This then provided policymakers with evidence on which they acted to provide appropriate aged care services. Implications: Collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers can access high-quality information, and partnership between researchers and policymakers can improve Indigenous services.

Background: It is assumed that people who inject drugs (PWID) care little about their health. This emerges from social and moral perceptions of PWID and is framed by research that focuses on their morbidity and mortality. Drawing on the narratives of Australian women who inject drugs, we examined the salience of health for our participants and the contexts that structure their descriptions of health and wellbeing. Methods: We conducted qualitative interviews with 83 women who inject drugs and live with hepatitis C virus (HCV) to explore their experiences of health and health care seeking. Findings: Although the interviews focused on HCV, women discussed their health within broader contexts of drug dependence, unstable housing, unemployment, financial strain, other health issues and relationships. Concern about HCV was less pronounced than concerns about other health problems and socio-economic circumstances. Broadening the focus of health beyond drug use alone, women's narratives strongly suggest that PWID can and do care about their health. Conclusions: Whilst research and policy often focus on health problems and barriers to health amongst PWID, the women in our sample maintained positive health beliefs and behaviours. Much like other members of society, their health priorities are contextualised by cultural, economic and political factors. This suggests that health interventions aimed at women who inject drugs could build upon the salience of a range of health priorities as well as integrating these with structural interventions designed to improve housing and economic status.

Objective: To review Australian legislation about privacy, focusing on provisions within the regulations to conduct health research using identified data and lobby for regulatory change in the ACT. Method: A systematic review of Commonwealth and jurisdiction health privacy regulation. Results: Australia has a number of regulations for the protection of privacy of health information. In addition to Commonwealth privacy laws, there are jurisdictional regulations concerning protection of health information. These range from no specific legislation in Western Australia, to a code of practice in South Australia, and Commonwealth legislation that deals with use and disclosure of identified health information to conduct health research (Sections 95 and 95A of the Privacy Act 1988). At the time of this review, all but one jurisdiction, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), had provisions for disclosing identified health information for health research. Conclusion: The ACT's Health Records (Privacy and Access) Act was inconsistent with the other Australian regulation concerning the use of identified health data in health research. Implications: The information from the review was used to inform the ACT Government that the health privacy regulations in place were inconsistent with the rest of Australia and resulted in regulatory change in the ACT. ACT legislation was amended to include provisions for the disclosure of identified health information for health research under controlled circumstances. The amendments were passed in December 2005, facilitating future health research involving data linkage in the ACT.

Objective: To review Australian legislation about privacy, focusing on provisions within the regulations to conduct health research using identified data and lobby for regulatory change in the ACT. Method: A systematic review of Commonwealth and jurisdiction health privacy regulation. Results: Australia has a number of regulations for the protection of privacy of health information. In addition to Commonwealth privacy laws, there are jurisdictional regulations concerning protection of health information. These range from no specific legislation in Western Australia, to a code of practice in South Australia, and Commonwealth legislation that deals with use and disclosure of identified health information to conduct health research (Sections 95 and 95A of the Privacy Act 1988). At the time of this review, all but one jurisdiction, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), had provisions for disclosing identified health information for health research. Conclusion: The ACT's Health Records (Privacy and Access) Act was inconsistent with the other Australian regulation concerning the use of identified health data in health research. Implications: The information from the review was used to inform the ACT Government that the health privacy regulations in place were inconsistent with the rest of Australia and resulted in regulatory change in the ACT. ACT legislation was amended to include provisions for the disclosure of identified health information for health research under controlled circumstances. The amendments were passed in December 2005, facilitating future health research involving data linkage in the ACT.